Friday night. Leichhardt Oval. It’s football day.
The Sky Blues returned to Leichhardt this week to take on Newcastle Jets in a much needed win after a disappointing derby loss to the Wanderers. The Sky Blue faithful were hurting after last week’s result and anything less than three points would be a major blow to the season. Luckily, the boys managed to put in a big performance and secure a comfortable 4-1 win over the Jets.
The Cove were in high spirits and in full song after a deflating derby loss and treated the crowd to another exciting safe smoke display as they were ready to get behind their team.
Sydney put the pressure on from the get go as Adam Le Fondre had a chance to take an early lead when the ball was played to him but the English striker just put it wide. Fans on the edge of their seats, would we see a goal fest or it would be more of the same of what we saw last week?
The home side quickly put that to rest when Luke Brattan crossed a perfect ball into midfield maestro Milos Ninkovic who tapped it home to put his team ahead. He does love scoring against Newy doesn’t he?
The lead didn’t last long. Newcastle weren’t going down without a fight it seemed when Jets young gun Matt Millar scoring a beauty of a header to level the score. This seemed oddly familiar didn’t it? We saw this far too many times last season and the worry began to kick in.
Both Sydney and Jets had their fair share of chances for the next half an hour or so and it looked like we were going into half-time with a level score.
Up steps Rhyan Grant. The mullet man received the ball and fizzed it in to Adam Le Fondre who banged it into the back of the net. He wasn’t missing this time. The crowd erupted with noise as Sydney were looking to go into the sheds with the advantage.
The second half begun and Sydney were looking to pick up right where they left off. It didn’t take long either. Sydney scored their third of the night when Jets defender netted an unlucky own goal when it bounced off him from a cracking Ryan McGowan shot.
3-1. The Sky Blues looked very comfortable from this point forward and took control of the game. Jets struggled to create many chances as Hoffman looked a bit lost up top as fans were crying out for a change to be made.
Sydney finished off the Jets when new signing Kosta Barbarouses finally got his first goal for Sydney. The Kiwi international found some space in the Newcastle defence and dribbled past keeper Glen Moss to tap the ball home and seal all three points for Sydney. The Cove erupted and started to sing his name. A moment he will surely not forget.
We also saw the return of young forward Trent Buhagiar. The former Mariners player picked up a season long injury just before the start of last season and the fans were excited to see him back. The stadium was singing his name every time he got the ball and despite it being his first game, he looked like he’s going to pick up right where he left off.
A disappointing loss for Newcastle no doubt as they look to go through another average season but a big confidence boost for Sydney as they have a bye next week. Following that will be a tough Big Blue at Jubilee. A must win game if they want to mount a serious title challenge. It will be a difficult game as always but Corica’s men should be up to the challenge. We all know what happened last time the Victory came to Kogarah?
